


Pride

by muzivitch



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-01
Updated: 2007-07-01
Packaged: 2017-10-18 10:30:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/187969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muzivitch/pseuds/muzivitch





	Pride

_**[Fic] Pride | Ohtori, Shishido, Atobe, hints of ShishiAto**_  
Title: Pride  
Author: Mizu [[](http://muzivitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **muzivitch**](http://muzivitch.livejournal.com/) ]  
Series: Prince of Tennis  
Characters: Ohtori Choutarou, Shishido Ryoh, Atobe Keigo  
Length: 698 words  
Rating: PG

It was the third night after Shishido had come up to him and asked him - well, told, really - to meet him back at the courts at 9 pm, long after the school had been deserted. They hadn't spoken much, Ohtori thought as he swiped a hand across his forehead and took several deep, gulping breaths and skimmed the bleachers at the darkened courts. He thought he'd seen something, he mused. It wasn't the first time, either, but he was dead certain Shishido-san hadn't noticed. Shishido wasn't there to waste his time looking at the scenery. He was there to get back what he'd lost in fifteen minutes against Tachibana Kippei.

"You're friends with Atobe-buchou," Ohtori said as he watched Shishido pull himself to his feet.

Shishido stilled for a moment, and then shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"You've known each other a long time," Ohtori added as he walked forward and leaned against the net. "I heard Oshitari-senpai talking about it once." Until just recently, he thought, Atobe, Oshitari, and Shishido had been the most well-known trio of friends at Hyoutei - arrogant, talented, and absolutely certain of themselves - but Oshitari was the first to say that it wasn't really a true trio; it was Atobe and Shishido, and then he was standing slightly outside their longer and closer friendship.

Shishido's eyebrows knit together and his lips tightened. He rubbed at a darkening bruise on his arm "Yeah," he said again. "I met him when he transferred here in the second grade. We were friends most of elementary school. So?"

"So, why didn't you ask him to help? Why are you asking me?"

Training wasn't going to resume for a while yet, Shishido abruptly realized, and he flopped back down onto the cool clay, bracing himself with his splayed out palms. Choutarou was done with just heeding his senpai's demands, and he wanted some answers. Fair enough, Shishido thought. "Those are two different questions," he said.

Ohtori shrugged and leaned his racket against his shoulder. "So answer them both."

Shishido grinned a little and pushed back the hair that had fallen out of his long ponytail. "I didn't ask him, because he's not going to," he said. "Not with this. And I don't want him to. Not with this," he added, his eyes narrowing and darkening with sheer stubbornness. "When I go back to the regulars, it's going to be because I earned it, not because my best friend is the captain. It's a point of pride."

Shishido Ryoh didn't lack pride; no one at Hyoutei did, Ohtori thought with a half-grin - not him, not Akutagawa-senpai, not Hiyoshi, and definitely not either Atobe or Shishido. It was their defining characteristic. "So why did you ask me?" he asked again.

"You hit the ball hard and fast," Shishido said matter-of-factly. "It's why you're on the regulars." It was why he'd told Atobe, the year before, to make damn certain that Ohtori was one of the first years to move up to regulars when the new year started. "I'm fast, but I need to get faster, and chasing your balls is the best way to do that. Besides," he added as he stood up again, dusting off his white tennis shorts. "I can help you. You've got power and speed, but your aim is shit, Choutarou."

"I..." Ohtori began, but Shishido cut him off.

"Later," he said, and he shifted into what Ohtori was starting to think of as his fighting stance. "I'm only tackling one problem at a time, and this one takes precedence. Hit the damn ball, Choutarou."

"Yes, Shishido-san." Ohtori glanced back at the bleachers and smiled as he threw the tennis ball into the air; Atobe had no idea he could be seen, Ohtori mused as he slammed the ball across the court, but he'd seen him. Shishido was wrong, he thought as he watched his partner chase after the ball. Atobe wasn't quite as ready to leave Shishido in the dust as he thought.


End file.
